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Understanding Domaining: Sarah's Thoughts
Today I have the privilege to be writing my very first article for Whizzbangs blog. Can I just say, that it’s a lot of pressure not only to be writing for a successful blog, but also to be writing on a topic I don’t know too much about.
I think from my perspective that’s where I struggle. I feel like there is a huge gap between knowing about domaining and understanding what its all really about. I mean, still today when someone asks me about my dad I struggle to explain what he does to a person my age. It normally starts off with “…well, he sits on the computer a lot” and for a lot of people that already generally enough to shut off.
As I watch their eyes glaze over, I fumble and try to explain in the simplest terms what domaining is about. Bottom line is nothing about domaining to me is simple. People my age are very tech savvy when it comes to social media, computers and video games, but as soon as something as technical as domaining comes up I can see my friends (as polite as they are) just shut down. I was once the same, until I realized how interesting business can be!
Now that I am working part time for Whizzbangs Blog I have already learnt so much! I’ve been actually excited to look at spreadsheets (unlike when I was at university) and its even better when all the numbers actually make sense a little bit. But my question to you all is how do you describe what your job is to someone who has never heard a thing about domaining?
I’d love to get know many of you in the domaining industry as I know my journey has only just begun! Please leave comments and feel free to reach out to me and share your own journey!
Comments
Correction on last line: "Best possible use for Shoes.com is someone selling shoes, rather than say someone selling thongs, as though they're both shoes, there will be people going to that domain expecting to get more shoes than just thongs - so this is called leaking traffic/visitors."
N(G)TLDs are domains that end in things other than like .COMS and similar older ones (.NET, .PRO, etc). An example is Australian.Systems
These may take-off for future generations, though a risk exists that traffic will be leaked to .COM (for example people wanting to go to China.Top may instead not understand and try to type in ChinaTop.com instead. Given the mass change people have gone through in understanding how to email, use the internet, etc, I don't think it'll be a large barrier to their ultimate adoption.
The next real steps are learning how to value names better and learn the marketplaces! If you're selling names, you really have to build value for end users, so great for extroverts!
Finally, another reason for value is:
Defensive Registration (for example to prevent a competitor acquiring a domain - though be careful not to acquire trademarked names! A legitimate use of this strategy would be to acquire a non-trademarked keyword that a competitor may enter).
Anyway, feel free to add us on Facebook, happy to assist with a second opinion! My background is similar to your dad's except I also have a Certificate in Justice from Harvard, and also have done a unit in Advanced Competitive Strategy (including pricing strategies).
Enjoy the industry, it's very easy to get hooked!